PathaleshwaraMaruleshwaraArkeshwaraVaidyanatheeshwara - The
lord isVaidyanatheeswara and the Goddess isManonmani
Mallikarjuna - The Lord is
Mallikarjuna Swamy and the Goddess is Brahmaraambigai

Talakad (45 kms from Mysore and 185
kms from Bangalore) is a town on the left bank of the Cauvery river.
The river Cauvery forms a garland around Talakadu as it flows from Thirumukkoodal
and Sivasamudram.

The place was also known as Gajaaranyam
(Gaja-elephant ; aaranyam-forest) because of the elephants that roamed
the forests here. Another interesting legend is that Somadatta, from sage
Vasishta's lineage (vamsam) did penance here along with thousands of his
disciples in the form of elephants and hence the place came to be known
as Gajaaranyam - Somadutta, with his disciples performed penance at Kasi
wishing for moksham. Lord Siva gave him darshan and asked him to reach
Rushiga rishis' hermitage at Talakaadu. The rishi and his disciples
were however killed on the way by elephants. Since they were calling
out "Elephants" as they were dying, they reincarnated as elephants. They
continued to worship Lord Siva as elephants and attained moksham.

The idols of
the two hunters Tala & Kaada can be seen in the Veerabadra Swamy temple
adjacent to the Vaidyanatha temple.

Talakad was once a temple region
with over 30 temples, but these are buried under sand dunes now.

Talakad enjoyed the patronage of
various dynasties - the Western Gangas, the Tamil Cholas, the Hoysalas,
Vijayanagar rulers and the Maharajas of Mysore.

Vaidyanatha templeThere are two huge beautifully structured
and ornamented dwarapalakas at the entrance of the Vaidyanatha temple,
a Ganesha idol on his munjur vahanam on the right. It is said that the
royal family entered the temple for worship through an entrance to the
south of the front mandapam. In the inner mandapam, there are idols of
Lord Nataraja, Durgai, Badhrakaali, Kaaligambal, Shaaradaambigai.
On either side of the main sanctum are the idols of Lord Ganesha and Muruga.
The goddess is Manonmani.

Shiva healed
himself
An elephant
daily performed the ritual of bathing in the Gokarnam pond. It took
water & lotus from the pond & performed pooja at a particular spot.
Two hunters Tala and Kaada, were curious. They struck at the tree
with an axe, but to their horror blood gushed out from the cut. They
realised that they had struck at a Siva lingam and begged forgiveness.
The blood soon turned to white milk. They heard a divine voice instructing
them to dress the wound with the leaves and fruits of the tree. And
soon the wound healed. They drank the milk and attained moksham.
Since the hunters Tala & Kaada attained moksham here, the place came
to be know as Talakaadu. Since the Sivan lingam had shown ways of
healing himself, the Lord is known by the name Viadyanaatheeswarar.
.

PaathaleshwaraPathaleshwara, Maruleshwara built
by the Ganga kings are considered to be the oldest.
The Shivalingam at Pathaleshwara
- Pathaleshwarar or Vasukheeswarar changes color - appears red in the morning,
black in the afternoon and white in the night.

Near the Pataleeswarar temple, to
the north is the Keerthi Narayana temple built by the Hoysala king
Vishnuvardhan. He was initially a Jain known as Bittideva, but converted
to Vaishnavism following the preaching of Ramanujar. His queen Shantaladevi
however continued to follow Jainism. He built thousands of temples during
his reign. The Keerthinarayanar temple along with 4 other Vishnu
temples are called the Pancha Naaraayanar temples. (Keerthi Narayana temple
at Thalakaadu, Veera Narayanar at Kadhagu, Kesava Narayana temple at Belur,
Sriman Narayana temple and Vijaya Narayana temple). This temple was excavated
from under the sand in 1911. Originally there was a sannidhi for
Sundaravalli Thaayar to the south of the main sannidhi. Since
that was covered with sand, the vigraham was installed in the navaranga
mandapam. There are idols of Ramanujar, Vedhandha Desikar, Nammazhwar
in the navaranga mandapam and Yoga Narasimhar and Viswasenar in the Ardha
mandapam. The nine feet high standing form of Lord Vishnu on a garuda peedam
is an imposing structure. He is seen holding the changu, chakram,
mace and lotus. In the sanctum is the idol of Keerthi Narayanar &
outside to the west of the sanctum is an idol of reclining Ranganathar.
There is an interesting story behind this. Tippu Sultan had great
respect for Ranganathar and so in times of war, the Hindu kings had taken
the precaution to cover the main sanctum of Keerthi Narayanar with a huge
boulder showing only the Ranganathar idol to protect the temple from destruction.
The processional deities of the Keerthi Narayanar temple are placed in
a temple in the same street as the Vaidyanatha temple.

Maruleshwara templeHalf a mile to the North of the
Keerthi Narayanar temple is the Maruleshwara temple. The huge Siva
lingam here is considered to have been installed and worshipped by Lord
Brahma. In the front mandapam there are idols of Maheswara, Thirumal,
Ambigai, Surya, Ganapathi, Shanmugar, Veerabadhrar and navagrahams.

Arkeshwara templeThis temple is slightly isolated.
Near the Arkeshwara temple is the Kottai Vinayagar temple. There
are idols for Bhairavar, Durgai and abhayangara lingam in this temple.
There is a rock at the entrance with a Vaastu yantram. It is believed
that tying deceased cows to this rock will cure them.

Mallikarjuna templeThe Lord at the Mallikarjuna temple
at Mudukuthurai is a small lingam - Mallikarjuna Swamy and the Goddess
is Brahmaraambigai. The foot marks of Kaamadhenu are seen on the
lingam.

Pancha lingams can be worshipped
in a mandapam opposite the Vaidyanatha swamy temple. There are also
sannadhis for Chamundeeswari, Veerabadrar, Sandhyaa Ganapathi. There
are several small temples under worship - Veera Anjaneyar koil and Anaadhi
Vaigundanaadhar temples.

There are eight hills surrounding
Thirumukudal. Somagiri (Mudukuthurai) on the east, Akkaparvatham
on the southeast, Devesaparvatham on the south, Janakagiri (giri, parvatham-hill)on
the southwest, Mahaabalagiri (Shaamundi) on the west, Dindukaasalam in
the northwest, Mallikasalam in the north and Guptagiri.

Panchalinga
darshanam is an occassion celebrated every 12 years on a new moon day.
The last was in 2006. Devotees should start the ritual of the day by bathing
in the Gokarna theertham. Then they have to worship Gokarneswara,
Chandikadevi and then Vaidyanatheeshwara. They then have to bathe in the
northern, eastern, southern and western stretches of the Kaveri, worship
Arkeshwara, Pataleshwara, Maraleshwara and Mallikarjuna, returning to Vaidyanatha
temple after each worship. Finally they have to worship Kirtinarayana and
conclude the ritual of the day.